Ark of the Covenant

Observation
God, the master artist and designer of the universe, was very specific with the pattern for the ark. Artists and designers do tend to be detail oriented! In fact before laying out the pattern God commands Moses in verse 9 saying:

“Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”

Then in verse 40 God repeats:

“See that you make them according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”

When God says something once we’d better listen, when He says something twice…well it is really important! (:

The Specs:

Made of acacia wood

2.5 cubits long / about 3.75 feet

1.5 cubits wide / about 2.25 feet

1.5 cuts high / about 2.25 feet

Overlaid with pure gold inside and out

Inside: put the Testimony that God was going to give Moses

The Description:

Gold Crown:
(rim/border) around the top

4 Golden Rings:
attached to the four feet

2 Poles:
made of acacia wood
overlain with pure gold
inserted into ring to carry ark with
never to be removed

2 Cherubim:
(winged angelic figures)
solid hammered gold
on the two ends of the mercy seat
cherubim to be made of one piece with the cover
wings spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat
facing each other
looking toward the mercy seat

Application

Exact Pattern
A quite simple observation is that God has exact patterns, plans and results in mind. Since God is perfect, His plans our perfect. This reminds me of Jeremiah 29:11, of Romans 8:29 and the many other verses throughout scripture where God tells us that He has plans for each one of us. The many verses where God speaks of those plans come to mind too. The plans of His desire for us to know Him, where He commands us to seek Him, to live for Him. He is very specific in the “how” as well: Romans 12, Matthew 16:24, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, John 15, Psalm 119, I Peter 3:1…so many more! That is why it is so important to read and study the word, so we will read of God’s plan for us and then read and apply how to live for Him. Not only that but be literally transformed by God’s truth and spirit living within us. God is detail oriented about your life, if you let Him be your Shepherd then He will lead you according to His will in your life and you will never be more satisfied than when you are living in obedience to God!

The Mercy Seat
The most astounding and amazing application that God touched my heart with from this passage is in Exodus 25:22:

“There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, I will speak intimately with you of all which I will give you in commandment to the Israelites”

God commands us intimately.

The implication of that sentence should blow us away. It stirs awe in my heart before the Almighty God. That the King of Kings and Lord of Lords does not stand afar and command us like a stranger. Even though He has the complete right to command us that way and the power to make us obey. Although we don’t deserve and literally cannot be in His presence without instantly dying (apart from Christ) because of our sin. In spite of all of this, He chooses instead to command us to come to Him. His desire is to teach us His commands in a very loving, affectionate and intimate manner. God through the sacrifice of His Son Christ longs to meet with us from the Seat of Mercy….not the seat of judgement which is what we deserve. He, Who ALONE has the right to judge – no one else has that right cause we have all failed. He Has come in mercy…how beautiful…how wonderful is that?

Come to the mercy seat today, do not delay. There is a day coming for each of us when this window of opportunity will be no more. The day we draw our last breath will be the day our fate is sealed based on this critical decision, will you repent before the mercy seat and let God command you intimately? God desires for you to come to Him now.

I find humor in the fact that when I first read Exodus 25:9-22 it wasn’t until six days later during my time with God that He revealed to me the wonder for verse 22. It just goes to show how blind I am to God’s truth apart from the illumination of the Holy Spirit! (: It is so exciting when God shows us a nugget of truth too, it is like pure gold, it is Him, He is truth, God is THE treasure!

An Offering
God commands for an offering to be taken in order for the sanctuary to be built.

Key points:
1. Is that He commands for it only to be collected from those who give it willingly and ungrudgingly:

“And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites, that they take for Me an offering. From every man who gives it willingly and ungrudgingly with his heart you shall take My offering.”

Application:
The key point is that God only would accept an offering from those who gave it willingly. He did not want it from those who would give with the wrong attitude in their heart. He did not want an offering of legalism or with any resentment attached, but one of worship, with a true desire to give. Today the same applies, no matter if we give 10, 15, 30, 50 or 70% to God we need to make sure our hearts our free from any resentment and that we are with willing heart, actually desiring to give to God. Trusting Him and worshiping him with our tithe and our offering. When resentment or greed rear their ugly heads we should be quick to confess and repent, asking for God to create a clean heart within us.

Application:
I wonder how many people today would give God some gold, silver or bronze with a willing heart or without any resentment. Not too many of us possess these types of articles, but what would the equivalent be? Our money, our TV, our piano, our nice clothing, our possessions of value and quality. How many of us without any resentment would willingly give of our own personal possessions? Seriously consider what your reaction would be in the event God asked you to give an offering like this. What does the outcome reveal, do we value our things, our money, our possessions more? Do we trust in what we have more than God to provide for us? Matthew 6:31-34 says:

So do not worry, asking, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. Instead seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.

Right before this passage Jesus commands us by saying:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destory and where theives to not break in and steal. For where your treasure is , there you heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

This conviction hits me particularly hard today. Even this past week I happened to be shopping for winter clothes since I didn’t have any snow boots and no heavy coat. We just moved somewhere where shoveling snow is a part of life and going anywhere requires facing extreme cold. I couldn’t find anything that fit me or that was affordable and time was running out before the snow started falling. Instead of trusting in the Lord, praying about it and seeking His kingdom first I gave into worry, even frustration and impatience. I hate to admit that I sinned in my frustration and anger towards God and my husband. It is the clarity of God’s Word and the strength of His promises that I should be relying on instead of being so short sighted and consumed in my own selfishness…

Lord please help me to give willingly and without grudge or resentment. Heavenly Father please help me to remember that you are Jehovah-jireh, my Provider. Please open my eyes to recognize opportunities for generousity. Please open my ears to recognize when you are commanding me to give an offering. Lord please also burden my heart in response to and open my eyes to recoginze my greed, selfishness and worry.

Growing up without a TV had a definite impact on my life. One of them being that I get to watch many of the classic movies everyone talks about for the very first time as an adult. Last summer this happened to be the Indiana Jones series. So the movie adventure began, I was excited to watch these classic movies! At the end of the second one, the one with the ark of the covenant, I was asked, “so what is the ark of the covenant anyway”? Well I may not have watched TV much but I had definitely gone to Sunday School and have read the Bible so an easy question you would think right? All I could come up with however was a physical description, that it held the tablets with the ten commandments written on them and a jar of manna, oh and that it was carried by the priests and set up in the tabernacle’s holy of holies. I was kind of troubled that all I could think about was the basic facts and history about it because I couldn’t stop thinking about II Timothy 3:16, that all scripture is God breathed and useful for teaching. I couldn’t help wonder though, how can we learn from the ark of the covenant? How can studying the scriptures about it draw me closer to God?

The Indiana Jones movie adventure led me to an exploratory journey of my own. One through the ancient yet living and relevant scriptures. The first step, breaking out the good ol’ handy concordance and looking up every scripture reference to the ark of the covenant. Then each scripture became my daily Bible reading for the next few weeks. God did open my eyes to see His truth through these scripture accounts which led to His spirit teaching me, correcting me, rebuking me and training me in the way of righteousness as II Timothy 3:16 states! It was awesome! I’ve since moved to other studies but would like to revisit these scriptures and delve further into the observation, study, interpretation and application of God’s word through a study of the scriptures about the ark of the covenant. Will you join me on this quest? We may not be searching for the artifacts and treasures buried in the earth but searching the scriptures for THE treasure – for God – is so much better. As Amos 5:8 commands us so gloriously:

“Seek Him Who made the Pleiades and Orion, Who turns the shadow of death or deep darkness into morning and darkens the day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out upon the face of the earth-the Lord is His name-“

No musty artifact or “treasure” can compare to the Creator of all time and space, of galaxies and constellations, of the ecosystems and life itself – Who stills the raging waters with a single command. As the hymn goes,

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.”